CHAPTER 4 - Hot In The City Tonight

  In what passed for a mind in the boomer, electronic pathways carried
different thoughts as the boomer `pondered' various things.  For instance,
its current mission.  Its `charge' appeared to be a complete unknown, and
not
very skilled in survival techniques either.  Yet for some reason, he was
important to the boomer's masters.
  Its orders had been *very* specific; observe this man, and protect him
from
getting killed.  The boomer didn't know *why*; it didn't *need* to know. 
It
had also been told to expect orders to bring him in.  The boomer didn't
foresee much of a problem in that.
  The surveillance had been rather profitable though.  It had seen a new,
unknown type of hardsuit that hadn't registered in its database; it had had
to create a completely new entry for it.  It had also got some detailed
combat info, at the cost of some of its own structural integrity.  And at
the
cost of its cover.
  The boomer suspected that it would be attacked very soon now.  It had
been
discovered only a few minutes ago, and already its enhanced audio senses
were
picking up and identifying sirens and the drone of helicopters.  Maybe if
it
was lucky, it would have a chance to complete its secondary objective:
destroying any targets of opportunity.
  A Knight Saber would fit perfectly into that category.
  In some crude way, the boomer was looking forward to the next thirty
minutes.

  --**************--

  Ian was nervous.  Very nervous.  The atmosphere in this place was
palpable,
and it was rife with tension.  He was *sure* he was being watched.
  He still had twenty-five minutes to waste.
  The people around here seemed different to those he'd noticed around ADP
headquarters.  Far more alert, for one thing.  Everyone looking out for
themselves.
  /Next time,/ Ian thought, /I'll get a map./

  --**************--

  Max sighed.  Up ahead, just visible, a group of police cars had set up a
roadblock.  Something was going on, and Max would have bet ten dollars that
it had something to do with that boomer they saw.
  "How do we get through that, Max?" asked Ford.  He sounded nervous, but
then, he always was.
  "We don't," Max replied.  "We bust through them, we're going to have ADP
down on us like a ton of bricks.  We've lost too many tonight."
  "So what do we do now?"
  "I guess we go back to Chronos.  As I said, he owes us for what we went
through tonight."
  The gang weren't entirely impressed with that idea.  They'd had enough of
Chronos for their entire lives.  Max noticed this.
  "It can't be helped.  I want that bugger dead, and the only way we're
going
to get a chance of doing that is to his dirty work."
  "What," Ford asked nervously, "you mean, sorta distract him?"
  Max smiled.  "Maybe.  Thing is, he looks like the type to gloat.  And
buggers like that only gloat when they've got their enemy in front of
them."
  He looked past the barricade deep into Shinjuku.  "Next time, Ian."

  --**************--

  Leon McNichol, inspector for the ADPolice, pulled up just outside the
Shinjuku district.  Climbing out of the car, he approached the cordoned off
area.
  "What's going on?" he asked the nearest police officer.
  "Rogue boomer in the Shinjuku district.  Got a report that it's stalking
someone, so we're keeping anyone from coming in.  We're trying to find it
by
chopper."
  "Fine," Leon replied.  "Pull back some of the cars; Daley and I are going
in.  I want to see this boomer for myself."
  "But sir...."
  "Just do it.  And get some backup in there.  I'd like to get that boomer
*before* it goes crazy."
  "Yes sir."

  --**************--

  Ian started to worry when he noticed that a number of people were leaving
the area he had just entered.  Everyone seemed to be vanishing into the
woodwork.
  He started to worry more when he noticed that there were some people who
*hadn't* vanished.  They were looking nonchalantly at him.
  Ian slowed down his pace, and came to a stop.  He took a step back, and
turned.
  He didn't get very far.  In fact, right behind him, he found a large,
well-muscled torso.  It was wearing a black T-shirt with a burning skull on
it.  He looked up.  About a foot above him was a bearded face, grinning
down
at him.  This was impressive, since Ian himself was around 5'9".
  He wondered if they could hear him swallow.
  As he backed away from the guy, he became vaguely aware of a ring of
similar people surrounding him.
  He wondered what would happen if he drew his pistol.
  The unmistakable click of a gun being cocked answered his question.
  "Uh, hi guys," he managed weakly.  "I hope you don't mind, but I'm kind
of
running away at the moment, so I really shouldn't...."
  "Stay right where you are," came a low voice behind him.  Ian stopped
backing away and groaned.  The voice was feminine.
  Ian turned without haste, occupying his mind with various curses about
female gang leaders.
  This female gang leader in question had jet black hair, which perfectly
matched her jet black outfit.  Black boots paired it off; amazingly, they
*didn't* have high heels.  Ian wondered who it was who had started this
fashion trend, if only so that he could do the entire industry a favour and
kill the little bugger.
  She was handling a knife in her right hand, turning it over as if
contemplating what to do with it.  However, her eyes were fixed firmly on
him.
  "Would it help if I said I surrender," ventured Ian, wondering whether
Fate
had another nasty surprise for him.
  "No," she replied flippantly.  "Not really."
  "Are you going to tell me what you want?"
  She smiled.  It was not a nice smile.  "I suppose I could grant that as a
last request."
  /Oh,/ Ian mouthed.
  "Living on the streets is tough," she resumed, "wouldn't you agree?  We
have to find a way to make ends meet.  I'm sure we can find some
interesting
stuff on you, especially with you carrying that big heavy pack on your
back."
  He licked his lips.  "Um, how about I just *give* you my pack and
jacket."
  "Oh, you'll give it to us alright.  Just not the way *you* mean it."
  /Ah,/ thought Ian in understanding.  "I suppose there's no use in me
trying
to make a run for it, then."
  The man standing to her right brandished what looked like an assault
rifle.
Ian's heart sank.  It was times like this where he *really* missed his
shield
generator.
  "Now," continued the leader pleasantly, "if you'll just...."
  There was a scream from behind and to the left of Ian.  /Not again..../
  Even so, as soon as they were distracted, Ian darted through a gap to his
right, drawing his gun in the process.
  He was not obstructed.  His potential muggers had greater problems.
  A boomer had just ripped one of their heads off.

  --**************--

  Ian fled down the main street, not looking back.  One reason not to was
wind resistance, and the importance of watching where you were going.
The other was that Ian was sure it would not be a nice view.
  The ADPolice car pulling up in front of him changed his mind.  He'd had
enough of those guys for one day, and he really didn't want to have to
explain what he was doing here.
  He turned and ran the other way.  Only to find the boomer finishing off
the
last of the gang who hadn't been quick enough to get away.  It gazed at him
with its red baleful eyes.
  Behind him, the two detectives had vacated the police vehicle, and were
drawing their weapons, watching the boomer over the car roof.
  It hadn't yet occurred to Ian that if a fight broke out between the
boomer
and the police officers, he would be in the line of fire.

  In metaphorical terms, the match was hovering over the fuel.
  And from the sky, four females in hardsuits came to light it.

  --**************--

  Behind his car, Leon looked at the bloody mess the boomer had caused.
Despite the fact that the boomer had just effectively dispersed a gang
MegaTokyo Police badly wanted dealt with, it had killed to do it.  In a
very
sadistic manner.  There was no way ADP was going to delay this any longer.
Not if he had anything to say about it.
  He wondered a little about the guy just in front of him, looking like a
trapped rat.  Why didn't he just run towards the police line?  What was
stopping him?  Was he scared of ADP?  Why wouldn't he get out of his bloody
line of sight?!
  All answers were academic as four hardsuits flew down to engage the
boomer.
  Leon's partner, Daley Wong, cried out.  "It's the Knight Sabers!"

  --**************--

  "It's the Knight Sabers!"
  /Who?/  Ian looked up as four coloured suits flashed by and landed
between
him and the boomer.  /Knight Sabers?  Who the hell are..../
  And then it happened.  That feeling he got every time he successfully
identified which book he'd landed in.  Sometimes it was a feeling of
elation,
sometimes one of thankfulness, sometimes even one of depression.  This
time,
it was one of sickness.
  The Knight Sabers.  Four vigilantes fighting robots in the near future.
Ian wasn't a fanatic about manga, but he'd been introduced to it well
enough
to finally recognise "Bubblegum Crisis".
  Megacorporations battling for control.  Individuals became pawns for use.
On a piece of paper somewhere, Ian had said he was a scientist working on
Matter Transportation.  He now thought he had an inkling on just why so
many
people were after him.
  The realisation just made getting out of here a more urgent objective.
  
  --**************--
  
  "It's the Knight Sabers!"
  The boomer watched as four different coloured hardsuits touched down
before
it - white, pink, blue and green.
  Boomers, theoretically, shouldn't have emotional feelings.
  Even so, this boomer seemed significantly more cheerful.
  Weapons spun out and engaged themselves as various orifices and armaments
revealed themselves.  There was a pause as some of the weapons began to
glow,
powering up.
  Barely twenty feet down the road, Ian fervently wished he was somewhere
else.
 
  --**************--

  As the Knight Sabers closed in to attack, the boomer fired every bit of
arsenal it had.  Most were way off mark; the boomer's targeting systems had
been one of the damaged modules.  Most were dodged as the agile vigilantes
side-stepped, rolled and generally worked to avoid the projectiles.  The
rest
were unfortunate enough to be turned by the powered armour. 

  Behind them, Ian merely threw himself at the ground and put both hands on
his head, wincing as explosive ammunition hammered the ground around him.
  Further back, Leon and Daley ran from their car as a stray missile turned
it into a fireball.

  The pink hardsuit launched itself towards a nearby building; Nene was
here
only to observe.  In the white hardsuit, Sylia also backed off; although
she
was immensely capable of hand-to-hand combat, she also wanted to be able to
observe the boomer.  For some reason, it had been adapted for surveillance.
Sylia wanted to know why.
  On the other hand, the remaining Knight Sabers charged right at the C-55;
Linna with her monomolecular streamers, and Priss a second behind with her
railgun.
  The boomer rose to meet them, with its fists; although it needed no other
weapons, there was a faint hum of energy firearms charging up in the
background.
  They clashed.

  --**************--

  A sudden beeping brought Ian out of his startled shock.  His gaze swung
around to his left wrist, where his digital watch flashed 00:00:00.  Almost
immediately, a flash of blue light appeared, fading to reveal a fiery
portal
on the other side of the street.
  Now, he had a choice.  Either stay here and be picked up by the ADP, the
Knight Sabers, Chronos or any number of corporations who could be
controlling
that boomer who had been tailing him.
  Or he could run twenty feet of battleground through which bullets, lasers
and about a half-ton worth of powered armour were freely flying around in,
and escape into an unknown world with unknown dangers.
  In Ian's mind, it was no choice.
  Perceived dangers are always more terrifying than the unknown.
  
  --**************--

  Leon inched back to the still burning wreck that had once been his car.
The chief would *not* be pleased; he'd probably chew him out for taking the
car into a warzone in the first place.  /Well,/ he thought, /at least the
Knight Sabers got here *before* the ADP made a fool out of themselves./
  As far as he could tell, it was going badly for the boomer; one of its
arms
had been amputated by the green hardsuit's streamers, and the boomer was
currently directing all its firepower in keeping it away, leaving it open
for
attack from the blue-coloured hardsuit.
  He was about to draw back when he noticed someone running out into the
battlezone.  The `trapped rat' from before.  /Is he crazy?/  Leon, against
his better inclinations, moved forward to watch the proceedings.

  --**************--

  Despite the thrill and exhilaration she got when fighting boomers, Priss
was quickly getting bored with this game.  The boomer just wasn't fun at
all;
despite being almost loaded down with weapons of varying type and
description, it just didn't seem... competent enough.  She'd tried getting
its attention with a couple of near misses, as well as shooting some of its
weapons off; but it just wasn't good enough.
  It could hardly keep up with *one* opponent; it was pouring all it had in
keeping Linna away, leaving nothing for herself to dodge.  It was getting
old, fast.  Priss decided to call it a day, aimed her right arm straight at
it, and activated the railgun.
  The line of fire had been clear all the way to the boomer when she fired.
Until Ian crossed it.

  --**************--

  It wasn't winning.  It knew that as a cold fact.  It also knew that it
wasn't *designed* to win under these conditions.
  It detected rather than heard the railgun firing.  It estimated that a
direct hit would cause critical damage to power systems, effectively
causing
total shutdown.
  And then it detected Ian's presence in the line of fire.
  Destroying targets of opportunity was only its secondary objective.  Its
primary objective was to follow and watch this man.  And protect him at all
costs.

  --**************--

  Ian heard something, a series of gunshots like machine gun fire, maybe. 
He
completely ignored it; he was focusing on the portal of bluefire only ten
feet away.  Almost close enough to touch.
  It was only a couple of milliseconds later, but he found it hard to
ignore
two-hundred kilos worth of boomer pushing him to the ground.

  --**************--

  Nene was in shock.  This may have been partly due to the fact that this
was
the first time she'd ever seen a boomer *save* someone.  A renegade combat
boomer, to be precise.
  However, the reason Nene was in shock was not so much to do with the
boomer, but more to do with the man whom the boomer had saved.  The same
man
Nene had seen walk out of ADP headquarters not seven hours ago.
  She slowly came out of her startlement.  /Where does he fit into all
this?/

  --**************--

  Ian's first reaction was intense petrifying fear; an emotion he usually
underwent when he thought he was going to die.
  The fact he was still alive a few seconds later therefore came as a
surprise for him; a nice surprise, which was a rare thing in Ian's
experience.
  He slowly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, and looked around
for
what pushed him.
  The two Knight Sabers were not looking at him; they were watching in
amazement at the frozen boomer just behind him.  Ian almost yelped as he
hurriedly backed away.
  He was in no danger.  The boomer looked slowly down at its chest, at the
railgun spikes firmly embedded there.  Then it turned its gaze to Ian.  Its
eyes seemed to glow brighter for a moment, and then, ever so slowly, it
collapsed.
  Ian got to his feet hesitantly, still backing away from the fallen
boomer.
>From the looks of it, the Knight Sabers had just saved his life.  But then,
they'd want to know why it was chasing him in the first place.  And then,
when they were gone, the ADP would probably bring him in for their own
questioning.
  Ian took a frightened glance at both Knight Sabers, and then, on impulse,
looked up at the pink Knight Saber that seemed to be examining him
intensely.
  He needed no other encouragement; he turned and ran straight into the
portal.

  --**************--

  The boomer was almost dead; it had taken the spikes deep in the chest,
irreparably damaging vital systems.  It wasn't even fighting back, and in
its
eyes, the light was dimming.
  But where had `Ian' gone?  And why had the boomer saved him?  Ian had
simply vanished from the battlescene; one moment he had been running, the
next he was gone.  He had obviously been running *to* something; the way he
had sprinted *across* the battlefield, rather than away from it, rang too
true to idiocy for there to be no reason.
  Could he have "Matter Transported" out of there?  Nene doubted it.  Even
though her sensors had picked up some sort of electrical burst when he
disappeared, there was no *way* he could have created a device small enough
to be hidden on him.  And the burst had been centred on him; there had been
no outside source.
  Why had he looked up at her just before he disappeared?  He had seemed
frightened of something.  Frightened of what?
  Who was he working for?  And what was this new faction all about?  Nene
foresaw a lot of work ahead of her analysing the scraps she'd found.  As
well
as all the data she'd intercepted from the surveillance boomer.
  She resolved to answer those unanswered questions later.  The guy would
turn up somewhere.  Nene was sure of it.

  --**************--

  Blue light, swirling around.  All kinds of tints could be seen in the
tunnel that took Ian speeding from one book to the next; if you could focus
on them.  The speed at which everything was going made it become a collage
of
different blues, until it all mixed together to form some kind of white.
  As always, Ian could feel the acceleration as he just kept on going
faster.
The force on him was incredible; Ian wondered if he ever passed out during
these trips.
  At that kind of velocity, spotting the light at the end of the tunnel
just
wasn't possible.  But Ian knew it was there.  Any second now....

  --**************--


  End Chapter 4

  --**************--

  PREVIEW

    DAY 2

  Ian ran full pelt out of the portal, none the worse for wear from his
experience, and skidded to a halt within a large shopping precinct.  With
badly hidden frustration, he noticed that the signs were still in Japanese,
but fortunately, it seemed, he was back in the present day.  By the light
streaming in from outside, it was early afternoon.  A clock on the other
side of the building confirmed it.
  It was a little odd, that the portal had brought him inside a mall, when
he had just escaped from the streets.
  What was definitely strange, were the amount of people lying on the
floor,
seeming... drained, somehow.
  And the eight-foot tall monster with the really sharp claws that was
moving
around the place laughing as people collapsed around it.  It was standing
in a similar place relative to Ian that the boomer had been.  /Oh, so
instead
of sending me to similar surroundings, it bloody well sends me to similar
circumstances..../  And this time, there were no Knight Sabers.
  Without thinking twice, Ian started to back slowly away from it, hoping
it
wouldn't notice him.
  He was out of luck.  It spun to face him the moment he moved.
  Almost out of instinct, Ian whipped out his pistol, aiming in the
monster's
general direction and succeeded in blasting it several times in the chest.
The barrage seemed to cause it immense pain, but to Ian's dismay, it was
still moving when the pistol decharged.
  /Aw man..../  Ian hurriedly leapt behind a potted plant as the monster
started to flick energy bolts at *him*.  He set to work, feverishly pulling
down on the charging mechanism; the pulse-laser pistol only stored a
limited
charge before it had to be `recharged' by pulling a hard-to-move mechanism
back and forth once, similar to a pump-action shotgun.  With Ian, it always
seemed to happen at the *worst* possible times.
  He dodged out of cover just in time to see that others had responded to
the
threat.  Five teenage girls, to be precise.  The *young* half of teenage.
There was something familiar about them, that tugged at Ian's mind.  He
shook
it off and started to run towards the monster, gun upraised.  The monster
hadn't noticed them yet; it was still concentrating on Ian.  Those girls
were
going to get themselves killed not knowing when to run and when to....
  "JUPITER POWER, MAKE UP!"
  /Huh?/
  "MERCURY POWER, MAKE UP!"
  The girls all had something held up high above their head, and they were
each shouting something different.  The monster half-turned to look at
them.  A couple of laser bolts to the side of his head brought it snarling
back to face Ian....
  "VENUS POWER, MAKE UP!"
  As they each finished their own sentence, blinding light coalesced around
them, and they became hidden from Ian's view....
  "MARS POWER, MAKE UP!"
  Now, only one of the girls was left.  She had a *very* distinctive
hairstyle.  Two balls of hair with a long ponytail dangling down from each.
It made him think of... of... /Meatballs.  Like meatballs./  Now where had
*that* come from?
  The last girl held some kind of pendant over her head, and shouted:
  "MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE UP!"

  As the light cleared, Ian found himself watching on the sidelines.  The
girls had changed, that much was definite.  Each of them were now wearing
some sort of superhero costume; almost like a sailor's uniform with a short
skirt, complete with white gloves and high heels.  /A sailor fuku,/ his
mind
helpfully came up with.  Where had he heard that before?  Fortunately, the
monster was no longer paying him any attention.  It spun to face the
newcomers.
  The one he had recognised with the distinctive hairstyle pointed at the
monster with a scowl on her face.  "Shopping is a pleasurable activity
bringing joy to everyone.  To interfere with such a pastime is
unforgivable.
For love and justice, we are the beautiful Sailor Senshi!  In the name of
the moon...."
  "...and the planets Jupiter..." interrupted the tall, pony-tailed girl,
who
seemed rather tomboyish; almost looking forward to the fight.
  "...Mercury..." continued the shorter, girl with an almost bluish tint to
her short dark hair.
  "...Venus..." said the blonde-haired senshi, arguably the prettiest of
the
five; at least, Ian thought so.  He felt sure the girls themselves would
have
other ideas.
  "...and Mars..." picked up the one with long, black hair; Ian would have
sworn she was rolling her eyes.  As for appearance, she looked an awful lot
like the blonde-haired girl; maybe they were sisters?
  "...we will punish you," finished the meatball-haired girl, who unlike
the
previous girl, seemed deadly serious about the speech.
  Suddenly, he stopped.  His eyes widened slightly as he realised
something.
Sailor fuku.  Meatballs.  Senshi.  It all fit.  Ian realised just who it
was
who had replaced the Knight Sabers in this book.
  "Oh no," Ian muttered under his breath.
  The speeches finished, the senshi charged the monster, sometimes engaging
in hand-to-hand, but special attacks were out in force on both sides.
  "CRESCENT BEAM!"
  Long ago, back before all this business with the bookshop had ever
happened, back when the worst Ian had to worry about was homework being in
late, Ian had been `introduced' to Japanese anime by a friend of his.  One
of them had been a dubbed series named "Sailor Moon".
  "SHABON SPRAY!"
  "Oh god, oh man, oh shit...."
  Ian, personally, couldn't stand it.  The closest thing he had to compare
it
with was an American TV programme called "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers", a
show so corny and stupid that it didn't even merit watching for the idiotic
monsters.  The plot of each episode of MMPR was identical to every other
one.
New monster goes around causing chaos.  Power Rangers go and trounce new
monster.  Evil megalomaniac sorceress controlling operation causes new
monster to grow to Godzilla height.  Power Rangers call their dinosaur
inspired mechanoids and trounce Godzilla-size new monster.  Admittedly,
they
didn't then all go back home and have a round of ginger beer, but the last
five minutes of each episode appeared to be devoted to learning some kind
of
moral.  Apparently, the show had done really well in the States.
  "THUNDER CRASH!"        
  "No, no, no, no, no!"  Ian continued his litany, panic setting in at the
edges of his voice, which had been steadily rising in both pitch and
volume.
  Of course, there was no way he could be in the dubbed version.  That was
a
TV programme.  However, his friend had said that the original Sailor Moon
had
been Japanese manga....
  He was stuck for twenty-four hours in the middle of a book he neither
liked
nor cared about.  A little girl's book.  He believed `kawaii' was the word
his friend had described it.  Japanese for "cute".  And that it was.  Ian
could almost puke.
  "FIRE SOUL!"
  He was in their reality now.  He was bound by their laws of physics and
their way of doing things.  He was, to all intents and purposes, trapped.
  "MOON TIARA ACTION!"
  The battle had been raging for well over a couple of minutes, and sadly,
it
looked like the other buildings had borne most of the attacks.  However,
the
fight was now coming to an end.  And with that final cry, a tiara whistled
through the air from the meatball-haired girl's hand, and crashed into the
badly wounded monster.  With a mixed cry of rage and pain, it collapsed
into
dust.  The golden tiara continued to spin through the air in a smooth
parabola, before returning back to the girl.
  The scene brought reality screaming back to Ian with a crash.  There was
no
denying it now.  He knew exactly where he was, and exactly what he thought
of
it.
  "Yatta," cried Sailor Moon in exultation.
  "NO!" cried Ian in despair.
  `Saved' by a bunch of fourteen year-old girls in abbreviated sailor
suits.
Things just couldn't get worse.

  --**************--


  End Preview

Author's Notes:  Fourth chapter.  It's over, thank god ^_^

And now, of course, after four chapters of BGC, it's time to switch over to
Sailor Moon, where more fun, frolics, and general bad luck will have Ian
being shot at, terrorised, chased and hanging from high places with no hope
of salvation or, as is often the case, dropping from high places.

Some people might not recognise some of the phrases in the Preview, or
might
think that I got the attacks wrong, or something.  The fact is, since Ian
jumps around through books, it's very unlikely he'd land in a dubbed Anime.
No, as hinted at by the fact that the shop signs are all in Japanese, Ian's
landed in the original manga.  No, my Japanese isn't that good - apart from
a
few choice words, I'm useless - all my information on the Japanese
originals
came from a great FAQ and reading too many Sailor Moon 'fics.  Now, what I
wouldn't do to get my hands on the original material....  (Actually,
there's
a lot of stuff I wouldn't do; I'm sorta broke at the moment....)

Chances are, I've made mistakes in any part of the fanfic (except the
prologue.  No-one can criticise me for that, because that book doesn't
exist!!! <g>)

Comments & Criticism welcome.  Flames are not.  If you have a criticism,
don't just tell me, think of some way that I could make it better.  Give me
a reason why it doesn't work.  "That bit sucked," does nothing to help make
it better.  Neither do the words "You suck."  So please, constructive
criticism only, and no abuse.

I'm hoping to have a great many parodies in the upcoming chapters...
including...  well, you'll see ^_^

Speaking of parodies, my stuff is littered with both implicit and explicit
quoting, inferences, references and other such stuff ripped, copied and
pasted into my story from various pieces of fiction, fact, games,...  uh,
you
get the idea.  To directly quote another author, a very *good* author (read
"Mother's Day" sometime, and look out for some of his latest ones, coming
soon...):

"Special Bonus:  Find all the references in the 'fic and win a
prize!  Well, not really.  But it would definately be good grounds
for someone suing me, and I suppose you could make a few bucks that
way."

I take this space to just say that the author who wrote that phrase is one
of
the best fanfic authors I know.  I hope to see his name up there along with
John Biles, Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne, Benares, and so on, soon.  Especially
with the work I've seen / been seeing from him.

I hope he doesn't see this ^_^

I would be interested to see if anyone *can* find all the references I
made;
there *are* some pretty obscure ones there.

Hope you enjoyed the Preview.  You'll see it again (maybe) as the prologue
to
the next part of "Boomers and Youmas", `Kawaii Just Doesn't Cut It'!

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Max: Another confused census taker?
Sam: Actually, it was the Commissioner with another
        baffling and idiotic assignment.
Max: Does it involve wanton destruction?
Sam: We can only hope.